twister: add option to create shorter build paths

Add possibility to create shorter build paths when --short-build-path
option is enabled. This can help during run Twister on Windows OS and
building programs by CMake which has a problem when paths with building
files are too long. The solution based on symbolic links which help to
connect "traditional" long paths with shorther one like:
"twister_links/test_0".

Fixes zephyrproject-rtos#41929

Signed-off-by: Piotr Golyzniak <piotr.golyzniak@nordicsemi.no>

scripts/pylib/twister/twisterlib.py

@@ -2790,6 +2790,9 @@ def __init__(self, board_root_list=[], testcase_roots=[], outdir=None):
         # run integration tests only
         self.integration = False
 
+        # used during creating shorter build paths
+        self.link_dir_counter = 0
+
         self.pipeline = None
         self.version = "NA"
 
@@ -3876,6 +3879,48 @@ def verify_platforms_existence(self, platform_names_to_verify, log_info=""):
                 logger.error(f"{log_info} - unrecognized platform - {platform}")
                 sys.exit(2)
 
+    def create_build_dir_links(self):
+        """
+        Iterate through all no-skipped instances in suite and create links
+        for each one build directories
+        """
+
+        links_dir_name = "twister_links"  # folder for all links
+        links_dir_path = os.path.join(self.outdir, links_dir_name)
+        if not os.path.exists(links_dir_path):
+            os.mkdir(links_dir_path)
+
+        for instance in self.instances.values():
+            if instance.status != "skipped":
+                self._create_build_dir_link(links_dir_path, instance)
+
+    def _create_build_dir_link(self, links_dir_path, instance):
+        """
+        Create build directory with original "long" path. Next take shorter
+        path and link them with original path - create link. At the end
+        replace build_dir to shorter path. This action helps to limit path
+        length which can be significant during building by CMake on Windows
+        OS.
+        """
+
+        os.makedirs(instance.build_dir)
+
+        link_name = f"test_{self.link_dir_counter}"
+        link_path = os.path.join(links_dir_path, link_name)
+
+        if os.name == "nt":  # if OS is Windows
+            command = ["mklink", "/J", f"{link_path}", f"{instance.build_dir}"]
+            shell_option = True
+        else:  # for Linux and MAC OS
+            command = ["ln", "-s", f"{instance.build_dir}", f"{link_path}"]
+            shell_option = False
+
+        subprocess.call(command, shell=shell_option)
+
+        instance.build_dir = link_path
+
+        self.link_dir_counter += 1
+
 
 class CoverageTool:
     """ Base class for every supported coverage tool

scripts/twister

@@ -684,6 +684,13 @@ structure in the main Zephyr tree: boards/<arch>/<board_name>/""")
         help="Execute time-consuming test cases that have been marked "
              "as 'slow' in testcase.yaml. Normally these are only built.")
 
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--short-build-path",
+        action="store_true",
+        help="Create shorter build directory paths based on symbolic links. "
+             "This option can be useful on Windows OS where path length limit "
+             "occurs.")
+
     parser.add_argument(
         "--show-footprint", action="store_true",
         help="Show footprint statistics and deltas since last release."
@@ -1236,6 +1243,9 @@ def main():
         logger.info("Completed in %d seconds" % (duration))
         return
 
+    if options.short_build_path:
+        suite.create_build_dir_links()
+
     retries = options.retry_failed + 1
     completed = 0